Various proposals have been made to provide portable collapsible boats, ranging from rigid hull boats having detachable hull sections to flexible hull boats having a complete take-apart skeleton frame with removable skin. Both types of proposals have significant disadvantages.
Conventional collapsible boats having rigid hulls rely on two or more rigid hull sections that couple or connect to form a boat. Collapsible boats having rigid hulls are durable, lightweight and stiff, but they either take up a significant amount of space when disassembled if the parts do not “nest” within each other, or they are severely constrained in their shape if the parts do nest within each other.
Conventional collapsible boats having flexible hulls incorporate a skin-on-frame construction comprising a frame used to form the outer shape of the hull and an impermeable skin stretched over the frame. Some of the better known types are assembled from a plurality of disconnected stringers and frames which are joined together to form a relatively loose framework. The skin is usually a one piece skin having bow and stem-shaped pockets. The skin receives two halves of the framework, which are then rigidly coupled or connected together inside the skin.
While portable collapsible boats having flexible hulls require little storage space and are easily transportable when collapsed, they suffer from several disadvantages. The skin-on-frame construction of flexible hull boats is disadvantageous because:                significant time and effort is required for assembly,        structure lacks rigidity, resulting in poor performance,        skin is fragile, particularly in the area where the operator's weight is concentrated,        internal parts such as foot braces, seats, and padding are difficult to affix to the inside of the boat's flexible hull,        extra equipment is required to convert the boat to sail, rather than paddle use,        design lacks flexibility to accommodate both a single operator configuration and a multiple operator configuration,        the overall weight is greater than that of rigid boats of the same type and size.        
Thus, there is a need for a portable collapsible boat that requires little storage space, is light in weight, is easy to assemble and disassemble, has good structural rigidity, is durable and performs well.